Weeping Leaves
by FuMaouChu
Summary: Naruto is flung into the war torn era of the Clan Wars. He must learn to survive in an era far different from his own, among men and women who are legends in his time, and those that history has long since forgotten. Allegiances are made, bonds are forged, and the future might never be the same. (OCs, back-to-back-baddasery, and awkward time travel shenanigans)


AN: _Here we are again! A new story, a new Naruto, and a new adventure. There will be familiar faces in this fic, but only a few, given that the Clan War era is largely unexplored by canon. So, this will be rife with OCs, though I hope you come to love them as I'm sure I will in the making of them. _

* * *

******Weeping Leaves**

******0**

******Falling**

* * *

"_You're certain it will work?" The woman stood from the final candle, dusting the various bits of dirt and moss from her red hakama. As she moved, bells rang, attached to her sleeves and waist and hanging from her ears._

"_Nuh, nuttin is certain. It has always worked before, but neva on such a scale. Tah call a hero is one ting, but tah call one through time? Tch." The woman smiled as she twirled around the outer edge of the circle, each candle she passed flaring up with a kaleidoscopic display of color._

"_You said it would work." The woman averted her eyes and tugged on her bell adorned sleeve, she was uncomfortable with the other woman's nakedness, and the lines of white paint on her dark body lent no modesty, only enhancing her bare curves, if they did anything at all._

"_Yah, I said dat, and wid us workin wid the Numa's veins, wid your gift guiding us...is a less chancy ting." Her body swayed past the flames, which rose as the beat of the drums intensified, her kinsmen increasing the tempo. The markings carved into the circle of stone began to glow, filling with an almost liquid sort of power._

"_I'm putting my trust in you Adjua. You and your kin. Your...rituals...are not those we..." The rituals of the Kuuwotsukamu were not those of her temple. They did not entreat the same gods, the same divinity. Every instinct she had, all her training cried for her to put an end to it._

_But she did not._

"_You need nah fear Miyako. But you mus ave faith." The power filling the circle ignited as the beating of the drums sped up once more. Adjua danced among twisting lines of prismatic fire, her pace quickening when the flames licked against her skin._

"_Very well...begin." Miyako wrung her hands as the beating of the drums reached a frantic pace. She had betrayed the ideals of her temple, her people. But it was for the greater good, for the sake of all the world. For the sake of peace..._

_Right?_

* * *

_**'This is bad, no matter how you look at it. Plus, you're exhausted.'**_ The fox's voice, for once, neutral. Without malice or malevolent amusement.

"Yeah, I guess..." Naruto closed his eyes and fell into his mindscape.

_**'If you want me to lend you my power...I could do it...Naruto.'**_

_'It seems you talk to me a lot lately. I'm happy if you want to lend me your power but...there is something I need to tell you before that.'_

The fox raised an eyebrow, and made an inquisitive noise.

_'Thank you, for lending me your power when we were fighting against the other Madara...that saved me!'_

_**'Don't thank me, it makes me feel sick! I did that only because it seemed to me that you're better than Madara! And in the first place, the quantity of chakra I can give you because of this cage is minimal! This time I just wanted to look at you fight a little more! That's right...just to waste time!'**_ The fox's voice was angry, furious, but without bite.

_'Why did you get so angry just because I thanked you! Fix that expression on your face and it'll fix your way of talking!'_

Naruto flinched back as the fox's giant hand reached through the bars of the cage and curled into a fist.

_**'Let's put our chakras together.'**_

Naruto grinned, '_Could it be, that you want to pull out my chakra like the other time?'_

The fox matched the grin, _**'You idiot, I'm telling you that there is no need to do that! Well...I have time to spare here, so we can do that again if you want.'**_

Naruto touched his own fist against the fox's, and grinned as he felt their chakra begin to mix.

He opened his eyes and looked out over the battlefield. "Let's go Bee."

"**I'm the main component of the two man team, Naruto, you should just switch to the support." _'I'm saying that because our opponents are five Biju. You cannot be in the front if you cannot turn into your Biju!'_**

"Bee, you and Hachibi are already injured, so you cannot do either the support or the attack. Let's go together!"

"**Hey...Naruto!"**

"We're both probably two man teams already."

"**Naruto...could it be, you and the Kyuubi?**"

"That's because I don't have any spare energy left!"

_I will never acknowledge him._

_Because he is that damned fox._

_But Naruto is not like that. He...he is an excellent student that acknowledged me._

_He is a hard worker. Acknowledge him because of his akwardness._

_He already knows the sorrow that is within a person's heart._

_He is not the fox._

_He is Naruto Uzumaki, of Konohagakure!_

Naruto smiled, the words of his oldest teacher in his heart and mind.

"You are not a monstrous fox anymore. You are my partner of Konohagakure." With a wild grin, Naruto threw open the cage that held the fox.

"You are Kurama! Let's go!"

* * *

_The flames flickered._

_The frantic beating of the drums rose in a single great note, and fell to nothing._

_The flames seemed to freeze in place, their energy coiling and twisting about in place._

_Adjua stood at the center of the circle, one hand extended to the heavens, fingers splayed, her other hand reached for the earth, coiled into a tight fist._

_Tendrils of flame climbed her legs, coiling around her and reaching for her outstretched hand._

_The marks of paint on her body began to glow, their light matching the intensity of the flames that now coiled around Adjua's body._

_The light vanished._

_The flames vanished._

_Adjua's body tilted forward, smoky tendrils rising from her body._

_The beating of the drums began again, in earnest._

_The woman stiffened as the flames reappeared around her, surging towards her outstretched hand before climbing into the heavens in a single column of prismatic light._

_With ecstasy on her lips, she spoke a single word. _

* * *

Naruto smiled as power surged through his body, shrouding his flesh in golden flames.

_Come._

A word, cutting into him like a blade.

_Come._

Kurama spoke, but his voice was drowned out by the thunderous echo of the word.

_COME_.

Flames of every hue engulfed him, burning away the world around him.

_**COME!**_

The light of the flames grew too much, and Naruto shut his eyes.

And fell.

And fell.

And fell.

He fell for eternity.

For an instant.

He fell through worlds that were not his own.

Through time eternal and immaterial.

Though fire and water and earth and death.

* * *

_W_h**A**ts T**h**Is Th_En_?

L**iT**tL_e_ F_i_**S**h Fa_LlI_nG _**d**_**OwN** t**He** **R**aB_bI_t H_o_L**e**?

**O**n _A_ **h**OoK o**F** v**InE**s An_D_ e_YeS_ aN_d _D**rAgO**n'S **bL**oOd.

_**KeK**_eKe**KeK**e_Ke._ H**oW** f_Un_!

* * *

His eyes opened, and he sucked in a titanic breath.

'Did I die? It felt like I died. Where am I?'

He was in a swamp.

'The afterlife is a swamp.'

With a groan, Naruto sat up and took stock of his surroundings. Trees surrounded the stone circle he had been laying on, and brackish water covered the ground. The platform had been carved extensively, etched with lines and symbols he couldn't begin to decipher. The circle was ringed by candles that had burned down to stubs, lit by multicolored flames, not unlike the ones that engulfed his vision before he fell.

Everything hurt, and he still felt like he was on fire.

With a sigh and yet another groan, Naruto stood, and stretched.

Behind him, he heard soft laughter, and a husky, heavily accented, amused, and slightly breathless voice. "Welcome, hero, tah Numagakure."

Naruto turned to the source of the voice, not sure what to expect.

And was greeted by the sight of a dark skinned woman, clad in nothing but lines of white paint, and a broad smile.

Upon Naruto's face appeared a smile to match hers, even as his thought processes began to betray him.

"So, not dead?"

The woman laughed, and twirled on her bare feet. It had an interesting effect to certain, specific, places of her anatomy. "Nuh, nah dead."

* * *

AN:_ Ladies and gentlethings, I present to you das prolog. This was originally a three page dealio (Veranda font, 9.6 size, single spaced), but my beta said that it was basically all dialogue, which is was. So, in an attempt to make it more interesting, it got a bit longer, and hopefully, somewhat more fleshed out and interesting. HUZZAH!_

_Now then! _

_**Introduzioni!**_

_**Adjua Kuuwotsukamu:**__ The Queen and High Priestess of Numa no Kuni's Kuuwotsukamu people. Adjua is able to perform many profane and esoteric rituals to a variety of effects, and is knowledgeable of many things. Like her people, Adjua is capable of controlling the Mazass__ō__ vine, though her control also extends to other plants, to a lesser degree._

_**Miyako no Kane: **__(Former) High Priestess of Oni no Kuni, possesses the Future Viewing ability that all Oni no Kuni High Priestesses (such as Shion, her descendant) possess. She wields her holy abilities through bells. Her visions prompted her alliance with Adjua's people, in order to bring the "Hero" to when he was needed. _


End file.
